Credit: Ludo StudioBluey is easily one of the most popular animated series currently streaming, but its intended audience might not be the kindy-age kids that many might suspect. As any adult fan of the show can attest to, the series takes more than a few forays into grownup problems more times than most of us would care to admit.
It’s often been said that Bluey is a show about parenting that kids can watch too, and that sentiment resonates with each new episode. Going from magic xylophones to episodes about mental health and possibly divorce is quite a leap, but that’s not scratching the surface of how deep the show can go.
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Many of the show’s grownup viewers point out just how accurate Bluey gets on social media. A recent post on the show’s subreddit has dozens of viewers uniting to share the lines and moments that perfectly mirrored their experiences.
Bluey Gets Real
Inside the Magic has repeatedly stated that one of Bluey’s biggest elements to its success is its relatability. Characters like the Heeler family aren’t just cuddly cartoon dogs but honest, grounded, and developed beings wearing an animated exterior.
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Dozens of fans, parents and those without children, shared their two cents on points and episodes where the show clearly demonstrated how much art imitates life by comparing their life experiences with those seen in the show. Needless to say, Joe Brumm and the rest of Ludo’s creative team know precisely what they’re talking about.
The Parents Speak
In the comments, u/YosemiteDaisy shares a common scenario all parents face when they feel overwhelmed. Taking a page from Chilli, everyone could use a 20-minute break.
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The user writes,
“‘Sheepdog.’ Chilli is at her last straw and just needs 20 minutes! Every parent has been overstimulated by young kids.”
To which u/Specific_Cow_Parts replies,
“My husband and I refer to it as ‘needing a Chilli 20 minutes’ for exactly this reason. If one of us asks for a Chilli 20 minutes, they get it, no questions asked.”
Further down, multiple parents share how the episode “Sticky Gecko” represents just how hard it can be to get kids out the door for various events. Judging by the response, it’s a truth that seems to be unanimous.
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u/Evil_Weevill points out in their post,
“You can never just leave the house to go somewhere. It’s always a minimum 10-20 minutes process that plays out pretty much just like it did there.”
And u/They-Call-Me-Taylor replies underneath,
“Yeah, before kids, I was always a prompt person. I was where I said I would be 5-10 minutes early or at the proper time, at the very least. Now with a 2 & 5 year old, we are those people 5-10 minutes late for everything. Even getting the kids started with the ‘change gears and get ready to leave’ process early made no difference. It was always something that made us 5-10 minutes late. It really bothered me at first, but I’ve since just learned to take a breath and roll with the punches.”
Several other episodes and examples are shared by the rest of the adult fanbase, but u/ObviouslyMadeupname sums the entire experience up brilliantly. The user writes,
“I find the whole series to be searingly accurate – to the point where if in future anyone asks me what being a parent is like, I’d point them at Bluey and say, ‘It’s this. Only it goes on a lot longer than seven minutes.'”
There’s no doubt that Chilli and Bandit make parenting look easy in most episodes, especially since Bluey and Bingo are walks in the park compared to kids who give off Muffin energy. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re perfect. As the fans have said, the show is perfect at demonstrating both the warm and fuzzy side of things, but it also doesn’t shy away from the messy truth of reality.
Do you relate to the parenting styles seen in Bluey? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!